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Results tagged ‘ Jeremy Guthrie ’

Right-handers Jeremy Guthrie for the Rockies and Cory Luebke for the Padres will face one another today at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, but the more important pitching performance will come later.

(Of course, fans may listen live. It was brought to my attention yesterday that evidently all games aren’t free. There is a subscription service. I did not know that all Spring Training games weren’t free. My mistake. But the subscrption service is a great deal. Of course, I’m not a salesman, and I have a vested interest — I like eating, paying bills, etc. But it seems to me you get a bang for your entertainment dollar. Anyhow …)

The Rockies will give right-hander Esmil Rogers his second appearance of the spring. He needs to have a good one. After an invonsistent 2011 during which he went 6-6 with a 7.05 ERA in 18 games, including 13 starts, Rogers opened Spring Training by giving up three earned runs on three hits and four walks in one inning agaisnt the Giants.

Rogers, 26, has flashed potential at times, has looked lost at other times. He won a job in the starting rotation coming out of last spring, but suffered a right lat inury in May, missed more than 2 1/2 months and was hit-and-miss the rest of the year. He also has struggled at Coors Field (1-3, 8.47 ERA in 22 games, including seven starts) in his career.

It’s clear that Rogers brings talent, and manager Jim Tracy considers him a competitor for a spot in either the rotation or the bullpen. But there is a time element involved. He is out of Minor League options, meaning he cannot be sent down without being exposed to waivers.

(Oh, on another note outside of what’s happening on the field. I will be away from the club for a few days. Owen Perkins, who has covered the Rockies and a variety of other teams for MLB.com, will be covering. Please read him on www.coloradorockies.com him, and follow him on Twitter, @owenperk )

Rockies right-hander Jhoulys Chacin’s 2011 season started in glowing fashion, when he held opposing batters to a .201 batting average before the All-Star break. By the end, everything seemed complicated. The Rockies dealt former ace pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez at the trading deadline, and it wasn’t simply enough to pitch. While never asked by his club, there was an implied requirement that he become an “ace,” not just a strong pitcher but a leader and face of the pitching staff.

Manager Jim Tracy’s goal going into 2012 is to make sure Chacin focuses on one simple task that makes everything else possible — repeat his delivery. Repeating the delivery allows him to spot his fastball, which makes his tremendous secondary pitches useful.

So Chacin makes his Cactus League debut today against the D-backs at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, and Tracy is telling him to keep it simple.

“I did have a conversation with him in this office,” Tracy said. “It goes back to taking this opportunity in Spring Training to work on his delivery and repeating it, not getting into jerking and stuff like that, where his fastball starts to run away from him. He’s working on pounding his fastball for strikes.

“I personally feel, and you’ve heard me talk about this a lot last year, that if there’s one guy in this camp who can do what we saw last year with an Ian Kennedy [with the D-backs], a guy that is capable of taking a quantum leap, to me it’s Jhoulys Chacin, with much-improved fastball command.”

Here is the Rockies’ lineup, updated with Troy Tulowitzki being scratched because of illness:

Eric Young Jr., CF

Marco Scutaro, 2B

Carlos Gonzalez, LF

Jason Giambi, DH

Jordan Pacheco, C

Charlie Blackmon, RF

Nolan Arenado, 3B

Chad Tracy, 1B

Jonathan Herrera, SS

A former Rockies top Draft pick, lefty Christian Friedrich, is scheduled to pitch after Chacin. Friedrich, taken 25th overall in 2008, struggled to 6-10 with a 5.00 ERA in 25 starts at Double-A Tulsa last year. But injuries affected his 2010 season and his preparation for 2011. This past winter, he spent time working out with the Phillies’ Cliff Lee, and the Rockies have placed his Spring Training locker beside that of Moyer. Friedrich is in better physical shape, and said the veterans have offered him a high level of information.

One of the possibilities for the Rockies to deal closer Huston Street just disappeared, because the Blue Jays acquired closer Sergio Santos from the White Sox for righty pitching prospect Nestor Molina. Although Street’s $8 million guarantee in and of itself was going to make it tough for the Rockies and Jayus to make a deal, the Rockies did like the Jays’ young pitching.

A distinct possibility is Baltimore, although the Orioles appear to want more for Street than right-hander Jeremy Guthrie. The deal looks even from a dollar perspective, with Guthrie projected to make as much as $8.3 million in arbitration. The Rockies like the fact Guthrie has thrown 617 1/3 innings thje last three seasons. Street would fill an Orioles need, but he will be a free agent at season’s end and the Orioles would like another asset, since Street will be eligible for free agency at the end of the 2012 season.

(Update: the O’s aren’t the only team looking beyond 2012. The Rockies would also like to receive assets beyond 2012 in a Street deal. For example, right-handed potential starter Kevin Slowey, obtained from the Twins on Tuesday for a player to be named, has two more years of arbitration.)

The Rockies also are looking at the Reds, with hopes of acquiring right-hander Edinson Volquez.

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